Indians Prospect Insider

It was an extremely light night around winter ball on Friday as no Indians participated in games in the Dominican Republic, Mexico, Australia and Puerto Rico, and just one player was in action in Venezuela. Even though there was but one person we hold to our committment here at IBI to post daily Around the Farm updates! As a bonus we have included all winter ball stats to date!

The rumors continued on Friday about the Indians and Brandon Moss. Will something finally get done? In this MLB News and Notes segment, the IBI's Andrew Zajac will be giving occasional reports on the latest news and rumors throughout the MLB. Today's piece focuses on Kevin Cash being named the manager of the Rays, the Yankees inked a key bullpen arm and found their replacement for Derek Jeter, a team that's showing interest in Melky Cabrera, and more.

Today we continue to take stock in all of the players in the Indians minor league system with a look at the position players at Triple-A Columbus. Over the past few months during his research for his 2015 prospect listing the IBI's Tony Lastoria has spoken with numerous people within the Cleveland Indians organization as well as scouts and personnel outside the organization, and he shares those insights on a good collection of players such as Jesus Aguilar, Tyler Holt, Francisco Lindor, Carlos Moncrief, Giovanny Urshela, Zach Walters, Jose Ramirez and many others.

The Indians may be on the verge of adding a big bat to the lineup as reports have circulated the past 48 hours that the Indians and Athletics have talked about a potential trade for Brandon Moss. After dealing Josh Donaldson last week, the next chip that the Athletics are flaunting is Moss. The Indians have built a good amount of depth in their farm system that could be used to make a deal like this happen and the IBI's Anthony Kaylor looks at whether he really is a good fit for the Indians.

Rain delays messed with the box scores Wednesday night, leading to some Giovanni Soto confusion. Soto did not actually throw Wednesday (his innings happened way back on November 21), but he was actually on the mound Thursday and impressed. Join Jim Piascik as he brings you the latest from Soto and gets you up to date on the rest of the action across the globe as he takes you Around the Farm.

Happy Friday! In this MLB News and Notes segment, the IBI's Andrew Zajac will be giving occasional reports on the latest news and rumors throughout the MLB. Today's piece focuses on the two remaining managerial candidates for the Rays, the Indians are close to a deal for Brandon Moss, an offer on the table for Chase Headley, and more.

Word got out to the masses on Wednesday that the Indians and Athletics are talking about a potential Brandon Moss trade. This is a move that the IBI's Jeff Ellis has been talking about for weeks among the IBI offices and he cannot contain his level of excitement about a potential deal. He explains why such a deal would be one to embrace, how he can help the Indians, how he would fit and what it may take to acquire him.

It’s been a very quiet offseason for the Indians so far which is not surprising considering the reality of their financial restrictions. The good news is their most notable free agent is 43-year old Jason Giambi, so they are returning a talented core of players and even if they don't make a move this offseason will have a good team next year. Over the past few days the Indians have come up in several different rumors and the IBI's Graydon Fox opines on some of the players the Indians have been linked to.

Given teams in the Caribbean are playing to win games -- as opposed to the minor leagues, where player development is more important -- watching the usage of players and who teams trust is instructive. For example, seeing Giovanni Soto be trusted as a starter, after not pitching extensively in that role since 2012, is a real sign of faith in the left-hander. Join Jim Piascik as he breaks down Soto’s start on Wednesday and the rest of the action from across the globe as he takes you Around the Farm.

It was a busy news days on Wednesday as the Braves inked Nick Markakis and Jim Johnson to deals, Luke Hochevar resigned with the Royals and the Mariners and Blue Jays completed an interesting trade swapping Michael Saunders for J.A. Happ. But the big news of the day for Indians fans was the rumor that surfaced about the Indians and Athletics talking about a Brandon Moss trade. The IBI's Tony Lastoria recaps all the news and notes from the day...

In this week’s edition of “Coach’s Corner” the IBI's Tony Lastoria had a chance to sit down with short season Single-A Mahoning Valley hitting coach Phil Clark. They talked about the immediate impression that 2014 first round pick Bradley Zimmer made to the organization and what he excels at, the big strides that Greg Allen made at the plate, Leo Castillo’s return to form, Yonathan Mendoza’s switch-hitting experiment, Ordomar Valdez’s ability to come off the bench and the adjustments Austin Fisher needs to make.

Reports surfaced on Tuesday that Wilin Rosario is available in a trade and Chris Heisey had been traded to the Dodgers. These smaller bits of news may have completely missed the radar of most fans, but to the IBI's Jeff Ellis he believe the news is something that could have an effect on the Indians. These are two new options on the marketplace he believes could help improve the Indians roster and he explains why in his latest.

Ramon Rodriguez was the only Indians player to participate in the Venezuela Winter League All Star game on Tuesday and he performed at his best with another good outing this offseason. The IBI's Arthur Kinney recaps his performance as well as the rest of the Indians in action throughout winter ball...

Torii Hunter returned to where it all started for him on Tuesday as he agreed to a one-year deal to rejoin the Twins, the team he originally broke into the big leagues with. The Dodgers and Reds also completed an interesting trade. The IBI's Tony Lastoria recaps all the news and notes from the day as well as all of the non-tendered players.

With preparations already underway here at the IBI for the new 2015 Indians prospect rankings and also a new position-by-position breakdown, the IBI's Tony Lastoria takes a look at values of all the minor league players that finished the season at Triple-A Columbus and Cleveland. Over the past few months during his research for the upcoming 2015 prospect listing he has spoken with numerous people within the Indians organization as well as scouts and personnel outside the organization, and shares those insights and more on pitchers like Austin Adams, Shawn Armstrong, Kyle Crockett and more.

There has been no shortage of speculation this offseason on the availability of Boston Red Sox outfielder Yoenis Cespedes, both in the national media and on this site. But as of right now, it does not appear Cleveland and Boston line up as trade partners. Last week, Fangraphs’ Dave Cameron proposed a three-team trade involving the Mariners to move Cespedes, but as Jim Piascik writes, a three-team trade involving Cleveland instead of Seattle could lead Cespedes to the corner of Carnegie and Ontario instead.

With a light schedule around the Caribbean Leagues, this gives us a chance to highlight a few former Tribe players. One such former Tribe player is Mitch Talbot who made his offseason winter ball debut with four shutout innings. The IBI's Tony Lastoria recaps his outing and more as he takes us Around the Farm...

December already! Where does the time go? In this MLB News and Notes segment, the IBI's Andrew Zajac will be giving occasional reports on the latest news and rumors throughout the MLB. Today's piece focuses on Nelson Cruz heading to Seattle, two teams in "serious" pursuit of Andrew Miller, Bryce Harper heading towards a grievance, and more.

As many saw on Friday, the Athletics dealt Josh Donaldson to the Blue Jays and like a lot of Indians fans, the IBI's Tony Lastoria came away less than impressed with the haul the Athletics got in return for Donaldson and was disappointed the Indians were not in on the action to land him. While Tony believes Donaldson was the perfect fit for the Indians, he wonders if the Indians were even a perfect fit with the Athletics. He also talks about the rebirth of Nick Hagadone and the Indians strength in left-handed relief options, the problems big spending can create and more.

As the 2014/2015 offseason continues one item the Indians could look to add is a veteran starting pitcher to stabilize the starting rotation. This of course would mean one of their current starters is used in a trade to fill a need elsewhere on the roster. The IBI's Kevin Sledz looks at some options the Indians could turn to in free agency or with a trade to fill a rotation need if one of their current starters departs in a trade.

Available IBI Books

The 2014 Cleveland Indians Baseball Insider book featuring the Indians' Top 100 Prospects and more is now available. Also, previous editions from 2008-2012 are also available at a discounted rate. Just click on the book image for more information. Thanks again for all the support!